The Presbyterian Church (USA) today reported a decline of 53,105 members in 2022, dropping the mainline Protestant denomination down to 1,140,665 active members. The loss reflects a 4.5% rate of decline, one that has remained consistent across recent years as the PC(USA) ages out.
Membership dropped below 1.5 million for the first time in 2016, down to 1,482,767 that year.
Among the U.S.-based denominations, the PC(USA) is disproportionately white, elderly and female compared to the overall U.S. population. In 2022 the denomination’s membership was 89.08 percent white, while only 25 percent of members were age 40 or younger. Women account for 61.48 percent of members, while a newly-tracked statistic reports that .15 percent of members (1,317 persons) identify as either Non-Binary or Genderqueer. The denomination ordained it’s first Non-Binary Minister of the Word and Sacrament in June of 2019.
Annual release of denominational statistics comes one week after PC(USA) Stated Clerk the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II announced that he will step down from the post in June, more than a year before his term in office was set to conclude. Nelson has served as the denomination’s top official between biannual General Assemblies for the past seven years.
“This was not an easy decision, but I feel it is the right one to make for my family and the church in this time of change,” Nelson said in an April 25 statement released by the Office of the General Assembly. “From my first day on this job, I have said that the PC(USA) is not dying but is reforming. In the next few years, the national church will undergo major reform to better meet the needs of our presbyteries and churches.”
An Acting Stated Clerk will assume Nelson’s duties until the General Assembly elects a replacement for him in July 2024.
While only nine churches were dismissed to other denominations in 2022, 104 were dissolved outright. The denomination lists a total of 8,705 churches.
The annual statistics report provided this week by the Office of the General Assembly shows a loss of 1,521 more members than the previous year.
Positively, the denomination saw a year-over-year uptick in baptisms, professions of faith and reaffirmations, including among youth, but none of those figures have come close to returning to pre-pandemic levels.
“We are not surprised by the numbers we are seeing. While the pandemic may be over, the impact on church membership is still being felt,” Nelson disclosed. “The challenge for the PC(USA) remains the same: Look for new ways to engage and welcome young people into the fold. These are dramatic and fast-changing times,” Nelson interpreted of the declining membership, calling for “finding new, innovative ways to be church.”
More: Read about the previous year’s PC(USA) losses here. Browse IRD’s archive of PC(USA) coverage here. Access the full Comparative Summary of Statistics from the PC(USA) here.
Comment by Robert Kellner on May 1, 2023 at 7:28 pm
In 20-25 years…poof! Already on the catapult to oblivion.
Comment by Jeffrey Walton on May 2, 2023 at 9:23 am
More like 15 years. Several congregations in the PC(USA) today will still be around then, but the denomination as we know it today will no longer exist.
Comment by David S. on May 1, 2023 at 8:57 pm
As a now former member, if the Stated Clerk and his senior staff hadn’t radically politicized the denomination, culminating in overt partisan politicking by 1) providing office space in the Washington Office to the Texas State Legislature Democrats in 2021; 2) casting in 2022 and 2023 as anti-LGBT bigots, everyone, including LGBT individuals and their allies, who supported reasonable public policy safeguards around sex change surgeries and age appropriate books on sexuality and gender in schools; and 3) the General Assembly calling particularly prolifers, but also those prochoice/abortion advocates who are against unlimited abortion on demand up to birth as being white supremacists, patriarchal, etc., then perhaps the numbers wouldn’t be represent continued decline. But, the Stated Clerk and his senior staff chose to focus on, and in the halls of eternity be on the wrong side of, temporal issues rather than preach a genuine gospel over the false gospel of Progressive Christianity.
I pray that he is not stepping down due to ill health, but I also will not necessarily dance over his departure, even though he was a coward and refused to publicly stand against the more radical members of his staff, even as he proclaim the need for tolerance and understanding. It more of sack cloth and ashes because these people just are not going to learn.
Comment by Reynolds on May 2, 2023 at 10:03 am
At rate of 50k a year, it will all over in 20 years. I wonder if the liberal universalist will go after the PCA, EPC and ECO and try to destroy them next.
Comment by Mark Siegman on May 2, 2023 at 12:28 pm
Given the loss of 100 congregations each year; the large number of congregations with less than 25 members; and average age of a member being over 60, the end of the PCUSA is less than 20 years away. In 1983 the newly formed PCUSA reported 3.1 million members (down from combined 4.5 million in the predecessor denominations in the mid 1960s). Less than 40 years later, barely 1.1 million.
Enthusiastically embracing secular cultural and political war (from a far-left perspective), while Ignoring Matthew 28, the PCUSA adopted “Matthew 25” as a new initiative, focusing on “decolonizing worship”; dismantling patriarchy and “white supremacy”, being “anti-racist” and queer affirming, while any not on board are branded as racists and haters. Those seeking a group focusing on these items can join a political or social movement, without the sanctimony. Is this still part of the larger church of Jesus Christ, or a progressive nonprofit organization?
Comment by Chuck Wynn on May 3, 2023 at 8:14 am
This is almost like a Monty Python skit. I can envision the Stated Clerk in the role of the Captain of the Titanic:
“As captain, I have said that the Titanic is not sinking but is changing…into a submarine. We are not surprised by all the water in the ship. While the iceberg may be behind us, its impact on people jumping into lifeboats is still being felt,” Captain Nelson disclosed. “The challenge for the Titanic remains the same: Look for new ways to engage and welcome young people who will blindly trust someone who is telling them something their eyes can plainly see isn’t true. These are dramatic and fast-changing times,” Nelson interpreted the sinking of the ship, calling for “finding new, innovative ways to rearrange deck chairs.”
Comment by David on May 3, 2023 at 12:56 pm
‘To be clear, the drop-off in religious affiliation is, researchers have shown, likely less about people actively quitting churches, and more about churches being unable to recruit younger followers to replace the ones who die. As Pew Research Center tweeted in 2019, “Today, there is a wide gap between older Americans (Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation) and Millennials in their levels of religious affiliation.”‘
https://www.salon.com/2021/04/02/church-membership-is-in-a-freefall-and-the-christian-right-has-only-themselves-to-blame/
Comment by Steve on May 3, 2023 at 1:26 pm
David,
The younger generation is going to church, just more orthodox ones, such as Catholic and Pentecostal churches – which are increasing in numbers. They are not going to progressive churches. Basically, younger generations are not going to churches that become progressive to attract younger generations.
https://christianstandard.com/2023/05/a-movement-away-from-denominationalism-whats-it-mean-for-us/
Comment by Tom on May 3, 2023 at 5:32 pm
Reap what you sow. The PCUSA abandoned the Bible sometime in the early- to mid-20th century…and so a lot of people are asking themselves why get up early on Sunday morning for this warmed-over twaddle.
The PCA, which added about 4,000 members in 2022, was right to break away in 1973.
And Chuck Wynn, your spoof was delightful! Have you considered writing for the Babylon Bee?
Comment by Chuck on May 3, 2023 at 8:19 pm
Tom, that’s probably the nicest compliment I could have gotten–thank you! The Babylon Bee’s humor has been a refuge from the insanity of our culture.
Comment by Loren J Golden on May 3, 2023 at 9:50 pm
“From my first day on this job, I have said that the PC(USA) is not dying but is reforming.”
—J. Herbert Nelson
“And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’ And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’ So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2.38-42)
“And as (Peter and John) were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” (Acts 4.1-4)
“Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.” (Acts 5.12-14)
“And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6.7)
Ever since he took office, Mr. Nelson has spun the same story: Despite all evidence to the contrary, the Presbyterian Church (USA) is NOT dying; she is reforming.
But, pray tell, reforming according to what? Because it is patently obvious that she is not reforming according to the Word of God.[1]
The Church of the First Century exploded immediately after Pentecost, “and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly.” Likewise, the Protestant churches grew by leaps and bounds during the period of the Reformation, and again in America durign the two Great Awakenings. Yes, the PC(USA) and its predecessors, the UPCUSA and the PCUS, have been hemorrhaging members every year since 1965, and as this chart shows, this annual decline has been fairly linear since about 1975, leveling off slightly after the union of the UPCUSA and the PCUS in 1983, and dropping off a little more steeply in the early- and mid-2010s. And in every year since Mr. Nelson took office, the annual membership deficit has been in excess of 50,000. And not only that, but every year, there is a drop in the number of churches within the denomination. Between the end of 2016, the year Mr. Nelson took office, and the end of last year, the number of churches in the PC(USA) fell from 9451 to 8705—a decline of 746 churches, or 7.9%. During the same six years, the membership of the denomination dropped by 431,995 men and women, or 29.1%.
For comparison, the communicant membership (to compare apples to apples) of the Presbyterian Church in America, of which I am a member, peaked in 2018 at 300,424 and has since dropped to 295,894 at the end of last year, a drop of 4,530, or 1.5%, and the number of churches rose from 1572 to 1627 over the same period, for a gain of 3.5%. Mr. Nelson touted the fact that the PC(USA) now has 267 “new worshiping communities” (the original goal was “1001 new worshiping communities within ten years”, and that was more than ten years ago). By contrast, the PCA, which has a little more than a quarter the communicant membership, currently has 305 mission churches.
To do another comparison, the PC(USA) reported 134,786 children 18 & younger in its congregations, of whom 38,165 were communicant members, leaving 96,621 non-communicant members, or one non-communicant member for every 11.8 communicant members. By contrast, the PCA reported 81,068 non-communicant members, or one non-communicant member for every 3.65 communicant members. Obviously, the PCA is doing a much better job attracting families with children than the PC(USA).
To be sure, the PCA is by no means perfect and is full of men and women no less flawed than those in the PC(USA). But in comparison to the PC(USA), she is the very image of health itself. And so, what is the PCA doing right, that the PC(USA) is not?
The answer is twofold: PCA pastors preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they exegete the Bible like they believe it. Over the past nine years, I have spent almost every Lord’s Day worshiping in PCA churches across four states. Whereas most PC(USA) pastors will either preach from the Revised Common Lectionary or preach topic-based sermon series, most of the PCA pastors under whose teaching I have sat have preached through whole books of the Bible, sometimes breaking for Christmas and Easter to preach on those texts—but not usually. And whenever they are preaching on texts unpopular with the unbelieving world, they will not flinch away from declaring the truth of Scripture in love.
It is hard to imagine this kind of preaching coming from most PC(USA) pastors today. A century ago, the PC(USA)’s predecessors capitulated on the inerrancy of Scripture and on solid Biblical theology. In recent decades, the PC(USA) has capitulated on Biblical sexuality. While there may be some remnant pastors to whom this is not true, collectively the PC(USA) has no backbone for withstanding the onslaught of the world. In fact, many are caught up in the whirlwind of the world’s ways of thinking, Mr. Nelson not least among them. Today, for instance, he published a six-minute video in which he expressed his “thoughts on gun violence in the wake of recent mass shootings,” and his response was to “call for more accountability and action to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.” While I do not take exception to the sentiment, I do take exception to his priorities. What the world needs most is not more gun control. What the world—and the PC(USA)—need most is the saving message of the Biblical Jesus Christ. You can take away every gun in America, and at least as many Americans are still going to perdition as before, because of their sins. Jesus died to take away those sins, so they might live with Him eternally, but only for those who put their faith in Him alone. I am afraid that Mr. Nelson is too earthly minded to be of much heavenly good.
And so, the PC(USA) continues its inexorable journey down the road to oblivion, all for want of the Gospel faithfully preached by those who believe the Bible.
[1] The battlecry of the Protestant Reformation is reputed to have been, “Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei”—“The church reformed, always reforming according to the Word of God.” In truth, the phrase originated sometime after World War II, frequently employed by neo-orthodox theologian Karl Barth, and used—and more often than not abused—by mainline Presbyterian churches, whose pastors more often than not wanted to divorce Jesus, the Word of God, from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament.
Comment by David Stockwell on May 8, 2023 at 6:13 pm
God bless Loren Golden!
As one raised (United) Presbyterian, and my parents founders of their UP church (and Mom still attends) I cry out “hear, hear”! Back in the day, I switched off my mind when I heard each oh-so-carefully crafted tale (some called it sermon) from the pages of Time and Life Magazine. Scripture references? Deemed completely unnecessary… yet my faithful Mom and Dad soldiered on. Fortunately, the old minister (a nice guy, BTW) retired, and they hired a barn-burner preacher from Alabama…
Comment by senecagriggs on May 9, 2023 at 5:34 am
“while a newly-tracked statistic reports that .15 percent of members (1,317 persons) identify as either Non-Binary or Genderqueer.”
MAINLINE churches have hoped that membership loss would be slowed/reversed by acceptance of the LGBT crowd.
It ain’t ever going to happen. The LGBT crowd isn’t coming. Scripture and the LGBT ethos are opposed. You’re going to serve one or the other.
Comment by Ernest H. on May 16, 2023 at 8:31 am
I well remember back in the 1980’s how almost everyone in the PCUS was all a-ga-ga over the prospects of reuniting with their Northern brethren to form the PCUSA. The prevailing thought was that we cannot preach unity in worshipping Almighty God if we cannot even unify as Presbyterians under one roof. Well, we see how wonderfully that has worked out. Many of those who joined in from the Southern church have now either lost their property or have remained in the PCUSA for fear of losing their property. And what, exactly, has the PCUSA church become? A “big tent” where all are “welcome” regardless of their lack of desire to adhere to God’s written word. “Be ye either hot or cold, for if ye be lukewarm I shall spew thee out of my mouth.” And, the PCUSA has become as lukewarm spittle to which very few young people will be attracted. When are people going to realize that encouraging any and all behavior without any standards is quite contrary to The Lord’s will and that it was just such behavior that resulted in the utter destruction of Judah in 586 BC?
Comment by David F. on May 31, 2023 at 11:21 am
So, I never thought Dr. Nelson to be anything but a progressive radical lobbyist. He is not a Holy Man, regardless of the vestments in which he drapes himself. I left the denomination many years ago, sadly. The age of the members works against a common sense reversal of horrible policies. At my church, we had (and still have) a huge number of retirees who frankly view Sunday worship as an opportunity to get dressed up, put on jewelry, and ride the church-provided bus from the assisted living facility to the church. Everyone waves to one another, sits through the service, gives money, and then goes to the common area for coffee so they can gossip to one another (“Did you hear about Herb’s cancer? It came back! Poor Betty!”). They were basically ignorant and uncaring about what was happening in the denomination. Like most radicals, Dr. Nelson saw the denomination as a piggy bank to fund his progressive ideology and appoint like minded “pastors/teaching elders” to the upper echelons of the church (Hey, either become a tenured radical professor or become a PCUSA cleric, the goal is the same!)
I sat down with an older neighbor of mine one day and gave him an hour long expose on Nelson and what was going inside the denomination “How come I didn’t know any of this?” I asked how many families with young children are in the Church on Sunday….answer: zero. My other neighbor attended our Church for less than a year, he has three young children….did not want them marching in social justice events behind our Church’s multi-colored banner or having them hear sermons where the pastor used the words homophobe, transphobe, Islamaphobe, bigot, racist, and fascist all in one breathless prayer.
So now, like the termite, Nelson and his crew have willfully and expertly hollowed out the Church. He will move on to another structure (institution) to begin feeding again. He sees the endgame right in front of him….and he is no doubt ecstatic.
Comment by Cal on August 1, 2023 at 6:40 pm
It finally dawned on me that the church I was attending, in this (PCUSA) denomination of my upbringing, is primarily a social club for elderly white liberal females and gay and/or effeminate men, and I said to myself “what the heck am I doing here?” and left and never returned.